Keepers at the Harpursville zoo went live on Facebook moments before to thank their viewers for coming with them on the pregnant giraffe ride.

"Thank you for joining us on this journey, it's certainly not over, it's just the end of the first chapter here," they said.

Since late February, April's daily eating, sleeping, strolling, camera-licking and tail-flicking has been broadcast to a loyal and adoring audience waiting in anticipation to see her deliver her fourth calf.

After a patient wait, the male calf was born last Saturday, to the delight of a global live audience that has sometimes numbered in the tens of millions.

On Thursday, Animal Adventure Park confirmed on Facebook that the YouTube live feed would be turned off with a small gathering.

It said that early next week the zoo would announce the plan for the camera going forward, including scheduled times when fans could check in on the baby, April and Oliver.

Penny, another "April Giraffe Friends" member, wrote that losing the feed was going to break her heart, but she had a message of thanks for the others.

"I can't believe this is coming to an end. I have been watching since February," she posted. "It is in my daily routine to watch April and Oliver and now baby g... I have learned so much and have made good friends from all over the world."

Animal Adventure Park is offering the public a chance to give him one at nameaprilscalf.com, where anyone who wants to vote on a name can do so for $1 per vote. There is a five-vote minimum, and people can vote as many times as they want.

The contest was being held for 10 days, and then a second round of voting, which will be narrowed down to the top 10 names, will be held for five days.

April teased her millions of global adorers for weeks before he was born, showing signs of near-but-not-quite labor and enchanting her audience with cute right-at-the-camera gazes and tongue flicks, snack noshing and nuzzling with her much younger 5-year-old beau.

April's pregnancy was originally catapulted into global headlines in late February after YouTube briefly yanked the zoo's live stream following complaints by animal activists that it violated the site's policies concerning "nudity and sexual content." Thousands upon thousands of social media users voiced their frustration on Facebook and YouTube, and the stream was restored within an hour or so.

Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch said the natural curiosity surrounding giraffes and their birthing process was a huge factor in drawing crowds.

"I think the fact that she's a giraffe and she's a neat species that people are interested in, that's fostered a lot of the attention," he said. "The fact that you'll get to witness the miracle of birth from an animal that you really don't get to see give birth — that's neat."